In 1575, Miguel de Cervantes, after fighting on behalf of Spain during its war against the Ottoman Empire and being badly wounded in the Battle of Lepanto, left the army with his younger brother Rodrigo and boarded a ship for Spain. During bad weather, their ship separated from its companion galleons and was attacked by corsairs, or pirates, of the Regency of Algiers. Miguel and Rodrigo were captured and imprisoned in a disused bath house in Algiers. Based on letters of recommendation that Miguel was carrying, their captors held them…
